But it is the company's greater phone lineup, which primarily consists of so-called "feature phones" (i.e., traditional cell phones), that Samsung was celebrating in a recent press release. According to Samsung, its total mobile phone sales topped 300 million for the first time in the company's history.

While Apple may be Samsung's major rival in the smartphone industry, Nokia Oyj. (HEL:NOK1V) is Samsung's major nemesis in the general phone market. In 2010, Nokia outsold Samsung by moving 453 million devices [source; PDF] compared to Samsung's 280 million.

Samsung's did not reveal precise numbers, but sales of "over" 300 million would indicate at least a modest 7 percent growth.

That growth has come largely at the expense of Nokia. Thus far this year Nokia has reported [1][2][3] shipping 245.9 million traditional cell phones and 57.7 million smartphones, in the first three calendar quarters of the year -- down quite a bit from last year. Those numbers indicate that Nokia's overall cellular device sales could be down by 25 million units or more this year.

The company's flagship Galaxy S II smartphone lineup recently hit the 10 million mark in sales. That is impressive given the late fall start the Galaxy S II was pushed off to in the U.S. after its initial April launch in South Korea and summer launches on the Asian and European markets.

The Android-powered Samsung Galaxy S II

Meanwhile, the slightly older Galaxy S lineup reported sales had reached close to 20 million, raising the cumulative Galaxy family smartphone sales mark to 30 million -- a number that trails only Apple's record of 100+ million iPhones shipped since the device's 2007 launch.

JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung's Mobile Communications Business, told Reuters, who first reported the 300+ million units sold, "We look forward to extending this success going into 2012."